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Okay, this is a cheat, but the
moment in An Adventure in Space and Time
where Matt Smith's Doctor appears at the TARDIS consol in front of William
Hartnell (played by David Bradley) is pure magic. It’s such a good trick, it
refuses even to be contained by the critical praise of that opening sentence.
Was it William Hartnell's Doctor meeting Matt Smith? Perhaps it is Hartnell hallucinating
the future of the programme’s character – his
character – which happens to crystallise as Matt’s Smith’s Doctor? Maybe it is David
Bradley sizing up his own chances of appearing alongside future Doctors as the
First Doctor? Wheww! – I feel giddy. The joy lies in the numerous writerly
combinations, like one of those childrens' flip books where you can mix faces,
jackets and trousers. It's also a great way to breach the cosy realism of the
docu-drama as a tribute to the very first episode, when the locked gates of
Foreman's yard mysteriously facilitate the audience. Gatiss has created a huge moment
that lives up to the huge task of abbreviating the huge experience of Doctor
Who, which, like an onion memory, is about peeling away the intertextual layers
without ever arriving at the core.
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